NonWoTecc Medical GmbH successfully completes second financing round of €7 million

Cologne-based medical technology company NonWoTecc Medical GmbH is receiving growth financing from NRW.BANK as well as from an industry-experienced consortium of private investors headed by Rainer Christine. Previous investors Rheinland Venture Capital, Kreissparkasse Köln, High-Tech Gründerfonds and KfW are also participating in the second financing round.

The fresh capital of €7 m is to be used for the product approval and launch of vascular prostheses in the peripheral and coronary areas. In addition, the production system is to be expanded and further marketing and commercialization of the coating technology is to be utilized.

NonWoTecc Medical GmbH develops and produces artificial vascular prostheses from biocompatible high performance polymers produced in a special patented manufacturing process. The innovation lies in the special processing of the material proven in medical technology, polycarbonate urethane (PCU). For the first time this allows the nearly life-like replication of a native arterial wall.

“We are very happy that in addition to the previous shareholders we were able to convince further prominent investors of our technology and our team,” said Frank Willems, the managing director of NonWoTecc Medical GmbH.

“NonWoTecc is characterized by a convincing combination of a technology base with several applications already in major markets, ambitious plans for the future and a high degree of corporate responsibility. I’m very much looking forward to the coming years,” said Rainer Christine, founder and former CEO of amaxa AA and a private investor.

“NonWoTecc GmbH has a proprietary technology platform, which in medical technology is not only excellently suited for the production of artificial vascular prostheses, but also in coating can be applied to very promising medical applications such as stents,” said Dr Thomas Raueiser, Investment Manager of NRW.BANK.

About NRW.BANK
NRW.BANK is the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Its mission is to support its owners – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the Regional Associations of Westphalia-Lippe and the Rhineland – in the completion of important structural policy tasks. Headquartered in Düsseldorf and in Münster, the Bank supports the regional economy, the municipalities and the people of NRW with the full range of credit products from the development programs of the state, the federal government and the EU to equity and debt financing alternatives.

For business start-ups and SMEs in North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW.BANK uses customized public promotion and equity finance products. The Bank aims to constantly improve the financing situation of this target group. For this purpose NRW.BANK has aligned its equity capital products with companies’ lifecycles and their resulting requirements.

About NonWoTecc
The primary focus of the company is the manufacturing of vascular prostheses using new materials. These new vascular prostheses can be used to replace natural vessels, or as a vascular bypass especially for coronary vessels.

To build the vascular prosthesis a newly developed manufacturing method is used, which can also be employed for other medical products. Further applications of this technology are AV-shunts as well as the coating of implants such as stents. All of these products are produced in our own certified clean rooms.

Contact:
Frank Willems
Managing director
Nattermannallee 1
D – 50829 Cologne
Phone: +49 221 9922 470
Fax: +49 221 9922 4729
f.willems@nonwotecc.de
www.nonwotecc.de

About Rheinland Venture Capital
Rheinland Venture Capital GmbH & Co KG (RVC) is a seed fund set up by Kreissparkasse Köln, Sparkasse KölnBonn, NRW.BANK, Georgieff Capital as well as private investors from the Rhineland region. RVC’s investments are focused on companies in the areas of life science and medical technology, information and communication technology, new materials as well as micro and nanotechnology, which are based in the Rhineland. RVC was established in December 2006 with a fund volume of €10 million, and is managed by its directors Dr Andreas Tietmann and Wilfried Frohnhofen.

About KSK-Wagniskapital GmbH
KSK-Wagniskapital GmbH was founded as a subsidiary of Kreissparkasse Köln in 1996. In addition to Kreissparkasse Köln, co-partners today include Sparkasse Gummersbach-Bergneustadt and Sparkasse der Homburgischen Gemeinden in Wiehl. As a regionally active capital investment company, KSK-Wagniskapital GmbH participates in the early stage financing of innovative start-up companies in Cologne and in the Rheinisch-Bergisch, Oberbergisch, Rhein-Sieg and Rhein-Erft districts. Investment volume in the seed or start-up phase may total up to €1 million. However, together with other financing partners more capital intensive ventures can also be financed.

Contact:
Kreissparkasse Köln
Venture Capital Department
Adriano Calabrese
Neumarkt 18-24
D – 50667 Cologne
Phone: +49 (0) 221-227-2371
Fax: +49 (0) 221-227-3516
adriano.calabrese@ksk-koeln.de
www.ksk-koeln.de

About ERP Startfonds at KfW Bankengruppe
Among the investments targeted by KfW Bankengruppe are shares in start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as investments in growth and jobs in Germany. With the ERP-Startfonds it manages and co-finances it invests in particular in innovative, technology-oriented companies with good growth opportunities. Both research and product development as well as the launch of new products, processes or services are financed. KfW is always involved along with a lead investor and only at market terms. Since 2004 a total of approx. €470 m has been available to ERP-Startfonds for investments in start-up technology companies.

Contact:
KfW Bankengruppe
Branch Bonn
Ludwig-Erhard-Platz 1-3
53179 Bonn
Germany
Phone: +49 228 831 0
Fax: +49 228 831 9500
info@kfw.de
www.kfw-mittelstandbank.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital in promising technology companies that turn innovative concepts into viable businesses. Seed financing aims to help start-ups guide their innovation to the prototype or proof-of-concept stage or to market launch. High-Tech Gründerfonds provides seed financing of approximately €500,000. It supports high-tech companies by way of its investment managers and its highly-qualified network of coaches, investors and specialists. In individual cases it can invest up to a total of €2 m per company. The investors in this public private partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Business and Technology, the KfW Banking Group as well as the six industrial groups of BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has an investment volume totalling approx. €272 m.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Simon Scheider
Investment Director
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Tel.:    +49 228 82300-109
Fax:    +49 228 82300-050
s.schneider@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de